Russian athletes at 2018 IAAF World Championships have good potential - deputy premier

"There aren’t many of them, but they are strong. Everything will be ok," Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko added

Share

1 pages in this article

VOLGOGRAD, July 25. /TASS/. Few Russians will take part in the upcoming IAAF World Championships in London, but they have "very good potential," Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko said on Tuesday.

"Too bad they have to compete under the neutral flag, but the team in general has very good potential," he said. "Take Masha (Maria) Kuchina [Lasitskene], who has won 14 competitions in a row. There are other promising athletes as well, such as [Sergey] Shubenkov, [Darya] Klishina and Anzhelika Sidorova. The team is very good."

"There aren’t many of them, but they are strong. Everything will be ok," the deputy prime minister added.

Nineteen Russian track-and-field athletes have been cleared to take part in the 2017 IAAF World Championships in London, scheduled for August 4-13. However, they will perform as neutral athletes as the membership of the All-Russia Athletics Federation (ARAF) remains suspended by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). Russian track-and-field athletes are banned from wearing gear of the national team or wear any apparel symbolizing the Russian flag at the competitions.